Lawsuit: ‘Cerveza’ is not Dutch for ‘beer’

A New York man is suing the Dutch beer company Heineken NV for unspecified damages after discovering that the brand’s Tecate beer is from across the pond and not south of the border.

 

Miguel Schelmetty, in his lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in New York, says he and others have been tricked by the beer company’s masquerading its Tecate brand as Mexican “through the brand name, the traditional Meso-American typeface, the mythical Aztec eagle emblazoned on the product and the statements ‘Original’ and ‘Cerveza,’” on the labels.

 

Heineken, which is based in Amsterdam, promotes on the Tecate beer website that its beverage is “Hecha En Tecata Baja California Mexico” and “Born and brewed in the land we are proud to share our name with: Tecate,” the suit states.

 

Meanwhile, the company only discloses its true origins “in small font on the back of the boxes on the lower left where it states ‘Product of Holland’” and “‘Brewed and canned by HBBV Amsterdam, Holland … Imported by Cervezas Mexicanas, White Plains, NY,’” according to court documents, accessed by several media outlets.